As of Monday, Dec. 6, Canada’s Prime Minister of nine years has declared his resignation. Justin Trudeau, who initially took charge in 2015, brought the country’s Liberal Party to power.
In recent years, however, Trudeau as both PM and Canada’s Liberal Party leader has faced declining support from the public and from within his party. The main complaints against Trudeau are in regards to affordability with high inflation rates, increased immigration, as well as his recent response to Trump’s proposed tariffs that could cripple Canada’s economy further.
The president-elect threatened an executive order that will vamp up a 25% tax on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico. Trudeau’s handling of Trump’s taunts followed major backlash within his party. Trudeau’s relatively passive response seemed to appease such tariff vows from Trump, many considering this event as the final blow following his resignation. So much so, Deputy PM and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland accused Trudeau of failing to take such vows seriously from their southern border. Freeland’s criticism was followed by her own resignation last month.
With this final blow to Trudeau and the Liberal Party’s public support, competition with the opposition party has grown even tighter. Recent polls show Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre sitting at 44%, whereas Trudeau is at 22%, a significant plummet since his 65% in 2016.
This leaves the opposition party optimistic in terms of rallying nationwide support for the upcoming elections.
Still, the country’s federal elections are in October, leaving almost a whole year before Canadians can head to the polls.
Ultimately, Trudeau’s fellow party members have urged him to step down, so as to not fully decimate the party’s chances this October.
In the meantime, the Liberal Party must search for a successor before people head to the polls in October. On the other hand, opposition leader Poilievre and the Conservative Party are now tasked with winning public support to achieve their goal of ending the current era of a liberal parliament.
